The present invention concerns improvements relating to the pouring of molten metals for example from a ladle into a receiving vessel such as a mould or a tundish of a continuous casting plant.
More particularly, the invention relates to a technique and equipment by means of which a stream of molten metal, established when pouring the metal from one vessel into another vessel, can be protected from oxidizing. We have found that a well protected stream can be obtained surprisingly readily with the aid of a jet or a plurality of jets of gas arranged to envelop the stream with a generally annular gaseous curtain.